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snydeq writes "Rapamycin, a medication doctors prescribe to transplant patients to prevent organ rejection, has been used to reverse learning disorders and mild retardation associated with TSC (tuberous sclerosis complex) in mice. Because the condition is linked to autism, scientists believe the drug may be used to treat learning disabilities and short-term memory deficits in all kinds of autism as well. The scientists chose rapamycin after they realized the drug regulates one of the same proteins that the TSC gene does, just in different parts of the body. 'What was surprising is that we could give rapamycin to adult mice and reverse their condition,' said neurobiologist Alcino Silva of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. 'We did not know ... that this drug would be equally effective for the learning disabilities as it is for tissue rejection.' Rapamycin treatment leveled the playing field between normal and TSC mice in as little as three days."

It turns them into Nickel Metal Hydride? Hmm, that makes a fully mouse operated home generator/backup system more feasible when you can use the brainy mice as batteries while their slightly moronic brethren run around on wheels all day.

My wife's grandfather had Parkinson's disease. As his disease progressed, his body gave out more and more. In addition to that, his mind slowly unwound as well. One day he would be perfectly lucid. The next, he would be talking to me about a "yesterday" that was really twenty years ago. It was sad to watch him slowly sink away physically and mentally. I'm still not sure which is worse, but I hope that I never have to experience that myself (or have any of my close loved ones go through that). I'd rat

it was tough for you, but I've always wondered what the experience is like for the person suffering the decline. How aware are they of the decline? Him talking to you about yesterday was sad for you because it brought up the realization that his faculties were degrading. But for him? He was retelling an anecdote, and likely unaware of the decline (at least at the time). I suspect things would get more and more confusing, especially if when lucid he would realize what's occurring.

Uhm, wrong. Both parties consist mostly of criminals (lobbying = corruption, even if by the book it is legal). And both parties vote against public good. The populicrats just prefer the copyright mafia, robbing taxpayers and so on.

That doesn't make him dishonest. It doesn't even demonstrate disloyalty to his constituency. It only demonstrates that he doesn't hold the stereotypical Democrat view in all things, apparently including drugs and abortions. I'm fine with that, I don't hold the Democrat view in all things either, specifically drugs and guns.

I'm a Republican, a Bush and now McCain supporter, and have more troll points on slashdot to prove my right wing cred, and I don't find this offensive at all. Come on people, lighten up. This was -funny-. If I would have been first to the joke, I would have made the same crack going the other way. The more seriously we take our political affiliations, the more we are trapped into the political parties that really don't represent us!

After all, can't we say: "Christ, Bush is such a great oil man, that he goes and invades the world's largest untapped source of oil, and now gas is $5 / gallon."

Sadly, it won't work. Although you were joking, I uncharacteristically jumped straight to TFA on this one, as my oldest daughter's IQ measures at 65. That's about five points lower than Forest Gump, if I remember the movie correctly.

Sadly, this treatment only fights Darwin. TFA says

Scientists used rapamycin--a medication doctors prescribe to patients who have had transplants to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organs--to treat learning disorders associated with a disease called tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) in mice. TSC is a rare genetic disorder that causes brain tumors, seizures, learning disabilities, skin lesions and kidney tumors in the 50,000 Americans and one million people worldwide who have the disease.

A million people might not seem rare, but consider that there are six billion people on the planet. From a link from TFA:

What is Tuberous Sclerosis?

Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is a rare genetic disease that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain and on other vital organs such as the kidneys, heart, eyes, lungs, and skin. It commonly affects the central nervous system. In addition to the benign tumors that frequently occur in TSC, other common symptoms include seizures, mental retardation, behavior problems, and skin abnormalities. TSC may be present at birth, but signs of the disorder can be subtle and full symptoms may take some time to develop. Three types of brain tumors are associated with TSC: cortical tubers, which generally form on the surface of the brain; subependymal nodules, which form in the walls of the ventricles (the fluid-filled cavities of the brain); and giant-cell astrocytomas, a type of tumor that can block the flow of fluids within the brain.

Most mental retardation is caused by injury.

A bit offtopic, but the US public school system, bad as it is for average (IQ 100) kids, it fails miserably for both "special" and "gifted" students; my youngest's IQ is 131 and she wound up dropping out (later getting her GED and now manages a GameStop store at age 21) while the oldest graduated high school an got her diploma but lives on SSI disability.

Tell your kid to reach higher than they are already doing. I have an IQ of 130 myself and I barely got my high school diploma and I didn't continue with college or university because I went to their "open enrollment" before and I thought the subjects were a bit too simple for me (I've apparently read through some of the textbooks they showed me on my own when I was in 10th grade).

So I just started my career as a tech support, built up, now I'm an Systems Analyst/Programmer in a University managing the IT fo

She's planning on college with a major in music. That's my fault, I'm afraid; I play guitar. When the kids were little I'd start playing and they'd run into the room I was in and plop down on the floor making requests. "Play the one about our eyes!"

See, I'd change the lyrics so that the songs were about them. Leila (the oldest) has always been terrified of storms. She had the uncanny ability to predict the weather. If it was going to rain, she would know when to within twenty minutes. I have no idea how she

(later getting her GED and now manages a GameStop store at age 21) while the oldest graduated high school an got her diploma but lives on SSI disability.

Sometimes it takes some life experience (a job) for someone to better appreciate school.. perhaps she may still go to college.. I also knew someone who was on SSI for some mental health issues, and her life was not exactly easy.. it takes quite a bit of work to keep those benefits. It's a depressing existence (and depression was one of the things she was

my youngest's IQ is 131 and she wound up dropping out (later getting her GED and now manages a GameStop store at age 21) while the oldest graduated high school an got her diploma but lives on SSI disability.

This is getting further off topic, and this isn't a flame, but I'm genuinely curious. I have an IQ of 131, finished high school, finished college, and have a decent job. Those with an IQ of 131 are not typically candidates for dropping out of high school. I've always looked at schools currently as fai

We have been fighting Darwin for quite some time. Note the sub-replacement fertility [wikipedia.org] in industrialized nations.

There have been a number of explanations for the general decline in fertility rates in much of the world, and the true explanation is almost certainly a combination of different factors. The growth of wealth and human development are undoubtedly related to this phenomenon.

I'm sure it is difficult to raise two children who are quite different in ability, but I feel like someone should point out that a number of people with an IQ of 130+ (and perhaps 65) graduate from public school and go on to do wonderful things. I would venture a guess that many people here have an IQ over 130, were incredibly bored in high school, and came through it just fine.

I have an IQ of about 140 and got Bs in high school. My parents understood t

Nah dude, you were trolling, whether you admit to it or not. Not only that but you're incorrect, you definitely don't need a degree to have opportunities, you just have to sweet talk a lot better than the guy with the sheep skin.

There is a way, using current technology, to cure Type 1 Diabetes: an
islet cell transplant [wikipedia.org]. The reason every Diabetic in the world isn't getting it, though, is that having to take antirejection drugs is worse than simply using insulin therapy for most people. I am curious to know how the benefits outweigh the risks in this case.

I've been taking this drug for years. I'll tell ya, having three or four mouth sores at all times helps you lose weight! And when you can't come to work for a month because of a raging... common cold, your idiot boss totally understands!

Sigh... luckily, these days, I'm on a lower dosage (and with a different boss).

1K to turn someone into a productive member of society and lead a meaningful life? It's a bargain. We're paying more than that to keep rapists alive in jails. Not to mention that as technology moves on it will either cost less or new drug will take it's place being either more effective or less expensive.

Not initially, no. These people are going to have to depend on the good will of others or maybe help from their insurance or Medicare. But as time goes by the cure will likely cost less and become more effective. This is the trend for nearly all medications. So the early adopter expense will be high, there will hopefully be continued R&D and maybe in a few decades the cure for this will be as common and at the same price of some fairly normal vaccinations.

Look at you. Sitting there, presumably in full control of your faculties, able to socialize, to date, to start and raise a family, to use your time as you wish, to banter back and forth on websites, or read a book, to build a career and take pride in your accomplishments, to further your education and expand your horizons.

Do you even KNOW anybody who suffers from any of these mild-to-mid-grade mental deficiencies? And I don't mean know OF, I mean KNOW and care for?

If you did, you'd see very clearly the tragedy that is a person who much of the time seems completely healthy and normal.

Wouldn't it be GREAT if pharma would give these things away for free? Sure. But this world today is not perfect. And you can't expect just a single industry to "disarm" and go socialized. Even if it WOULD benefit us all.

There's a test you can apply here: When a pharma company spends $1bn researching a drug that ends-up a flop, should we as taxpayers refund that cash to them? If the answer is "no," then you can't begrudge them for taking profits where they can.

And as much as I hate paying $4 for gas, I could say the same about oil: I don't know about you, but 8, 9 years ago when gas was $0.85/gallon, I never decided to pay $1.50 just to help out. Oil companies collapsed and consolodated when Oil was $20/barrel and now, I can't begrudge them for taking profits where they can.

Remember, nearly all of us are shareholders in these companies, whether directly, thru a 401k, thru a pension, thru a union, thru your local government which often invests a portion of its cash-on-hand, etc.

So the drug costs $1k. That's the reality of it. To suggest that being a "slave to the pharma industry" is as bad as being a prisoner of your own reduced faculties shows an abject lack of understanding, not to mention, a serious empathy deficit.

There's a test you can apply here: When a pharma company spends $1bn researching a drug that ends-up a flop, should we as taxpayers refund that cash to them? If the answer is "no," then you can't begrudge them for taking profits where they can.

You have, in fact, paid for that $1bn of "failed" research. You have paid it by tax money, and you have paid it by buying viagra,anti-depressants or any "lifestyle" drug for that matter. You have paid it because your government is protecting the patents of big farma, everyday, everywhere in the planet.

Yet you still don't "get" it, and you sympathize for the money "lost" in research. Exploratory Research into new drugs can never "fail". Its exploratory, and the benefits may or may not come.

When you invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a project that doesn't earn a single dime it's considered a failure by most peoples standards. Sure, you gain some knowledge from the failure and that's great but money is needed to build off of that knowledge.

Tell you what, you and all the naysayers to this process get together. You all throw some money into a hat and start your own pharmaceutical company and when you come up with cures you go ahead and make them public domain. If you hate the existing

Changing the way society performs economic relations is not something five people can gather and do. It takes a deep social change to do experiments like the one you propose.

Five people? Fuck, we've had two of you in this thread alone! What about the millions of Joe Sixpacks on the street that bitch about it? Face facts, there's tons of you out there who don't understand nor do you care to understand the industry. Ok, so out of the millions of you guys you think you could pull together a billion dollars a

There's a test you can apply here: When a pharma company spends $1bn researching a drug that ends-up a flop, should we as taxpayers refund that cash to them? If the answer is "no," then you can't begrudge them for taking profits where they can.

And as much as I hate paying $4 for gas, I could say the same about oil: I don't know about you, but 8, 9 years ago when gas was $0.85/gallon, I never decided to pay $1.50 just to help out. Oil companies collapsed and consolodated when Oil was $20/barrel and now, I ca

Ok, so you're born with a condition outside of your control and someone comes up with a cure or at least an alleviation of the condition and you see yourself as a slave? Oh, sorry, the fact that you have the ability to simply comprehend the situation and respond to it (as misguided as your response may be) shows that you're not suffering like these people are.

Being a member of a family with a severely autistic child (my nephew), I can tell you that giving up a bit of cash to the pharmaceutical industry (th

I spent several years working with people with Mental Retardation. Granted, these were not considered "mild cases", and as such, may be beyond the help of this drug, but I have to tell you, if I had a choice between their life, or having to spend half my income on drugs, even with the possibility of long-term liver damage, I would still take the drugs.

The cost for custodial care of a moderately to severely impaired autistic adult is an order of magnitude higher. Not to mention the very guilty feeling one endures for choosing to put someone into custodial care.

Wow those numbers are high. 1 in 150 is a very large percentage of the population. Is it being over diagnosed? Or are there a lot of cases in which the child is only mildly affected. there is quite a range of how it can affect the child. Also, do those numbers only include autism, or anything "on the spectrum" such as aspergers. Wikipedia states that the numbers for autism [wikipedia.org] are around 1-2 per 1000, and about 6 per 1000 for ASD (on the spectrum).

I would assume their statistic includes the entire spectrum of autistic disorder classifications. To oversimplify, from lesser to greater impact on individual functioning, the most common diagnoses on the spectrum are Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Asperger's Syndrome and Autism.

Tuberous Sclerosis
Individuals with Tuberous Sclerosis (TS) suffer from learning and behavioral deficits akin to those observed in autism as well as epilepsy. In TS, depending on the study, up to 60% of patients also meet the diagnostic criteria for autism. The defective genes are TSC1 (hamartin) and TSC2 (tuberin) which normally function in a complex of molecules important in cell growth and division. The complex is a suppressor of mTOR signaling. The link to autism turns out to be the PTEN molecule, which similarly functions as a suppressor of mTOR signaling. Some individuals with autism have been found to have mutations in the PTEN gene. Mice deficient in the mouse PTEN gene display autism-like behaviors, as do mice that have low levels of TSC1 and TSC2. Importantly, there is a drug that can function like PTEN, TSC1 and TSC2 in suppressing mTOR -- rapamycin. In the animal models, rapamycin normalizes learning deficits and reverses some of the abnormal phenotypes. Therefore, rapamycin is undergoing clinical trials to determine whether it can be an effective medication to alleviate the symptoms of TS. (Drs. Alcino Silva, Kevin Ess and Luis Parada)

Not exactly what you asked for, but essentially the reverse relationship.

Easy there.. from this [wikipedia.org]:Some medical research suggests that excessive levels of n6 fatty acids, relative to n3 fatty acids, may increase the probability of a number of diseases and depression.

Modern Western diets typically have ratios of n6 to n3 in excess of 10 to 1, some as high as 30 to 1. The optimal ratio is thought to be 4 to 1 or lower.

...let me say that any hope is a good hope. This condition is a far, far greater burden than you probably realize, and to date most of medical science is still groping in the dark.

My son's neurologist actually prescribed an anti-psychotic to a three-year-old boy. One that, by the way, had NEVER been tested on children and was not FDA approved for that purpose.

There are some voodoo-science options as well. Some work all the time for certain cases, while others do not work at all. Gluten-free/Casen-free diet, Omega3's, Anti-Fungals etc, etc, etc. If you take information like this to a practicing MD they are quite likely to either roll their eyes our laugh outright. Still, there are those that swear by them.

This is where we presently sit.

Imagine having a young man, totally dependent on you, who is struggling not only to fit in, but to avoid punishment for perfectly natural behaviors. Now imagine the feeling when the realization sets in that you simply will not ever be able to 'fix' him, no matter how much parenting you may apply. In fact, try though you do, at the end of the day it feels like no one has helped him at all.

Amen to that - I'm looking forward to taking my severely autistic stepson out to the Brooklands Double Twelve this Sunday, and will be taking the utmost pleasure from seeing him enjoy himself among all the old racing cars.

The behavioural problems we can cope with, but he's physically handicapped as well, so in residential care.

"As a parent of an Autistic... who has a young man... who is struggling not only to fit in, but to avoid punishment for perfectly natural behaviours."... and "Any hope is a good hope "

And as an adult who is Autistic, I've come to realize that we don't need to fit in. Some people will accept us the way we are and some people will not. I see no reason to have to change my behaviour to conform to the expectations of the ones who don't want to accept me the way I am. I see no reason to be insecure about who I

I hear that. My mother in law has a foster child who is autistic. It's extremely difficult. I wouldn't discount any "voodoo" treatments if I were you though. Although completely unrelated to autism, I've known many people who have cured migraines, just by cutting out certain things from their diet. People who used to be debilitated by migraines for a day or two a week, now cease to have any at all, simply because of a change in diet. Also, concerning diet and autism, some autistic refuse to eat many f

It doesn't matter how smart the electorate is when neither option is at all that good. Although on both sides, it seems be be a lot better this time around, it still seems like most of the politicians are completely corrupt.

I would consider it mandatory for anybody who wants to vote. Since he didn't get to be president without being voted for. He was elected twice. It's a really sad state of affairs when the country that touts the strengths of democracy, has a leader with such a low approval rating [washingtonpost.com].